Summer Loving
by Sable-Reiver
Summary: AU Drabble Collection; Multiple Themes and Pairings Soriku/AkuRoku/Zemyx; The days of summer as seen in the regular lives of our favourite couples. Warning: Chapters may contain course language and sexual references.
1. SoRiku: For the Love of Ice Cream

Summer sucks. I don't think you quite understand me when I say that though. I hate it; the disgusting humidity that comes from living on an island, the heat that insists you do absolutely nothing or you _die_, the insistence of people to hang out _outside_ in the stupidly hot sun. Up until this summer, my only reliefs were my basement (which was basically winter year round), and the water, so tantalizingly close to my house. They were my only sources of salvation from summer. That changed one day.

And that day was horrific. Not just in my usual way of bitching about heat either, oh no. It was _hot_. Like forty Celsius hot. Like cook the pavement hot. Like ice water is always lukewarm hot. I imagined that to be pretty close to what a day on **Venus **feels like. But somehow my friends still insisted on being outside, and no amount of flushed glaring, serious death threats, or bodily injury could stop them from dragging me out on to the beach, them constantly saying how my attitude was enough to cool them off without the need of water.

I took one dip in the ocean and left.

Of course I was nice enough to provide the excuse that my mom needed me to buy stuff in town. Somehow it never surprised them that I still helped out my mother even though I was living on my own, as it shouldn't. I may've been a frigid asshole but I wasn't a douchenozzle along with it. Still, you would think they would've caught on by now…

At least the stores were air conditioned. I lingered as long as I could (not actually needing to get anything) and then had started heading back towards my deliciously cool basement when a new sign caught my eye. Strange…I was quite sure there hadn't been an ice cream place there before…

"Sora's Old-Fashioned Ice Cream." I read aloud. Not much of a name, but at least it was straightforward enough. And ice cream was sounding pretty damn good at that moment. So I went in, bell above the door jingling pleasantly behind me.

The first thing I noticed was, as expected for such a place, the temperature. About as cold as my 840 square foot love buried beneath my house. Then came the ice cream flavors on the menus behind the counter (because a place this small should not have so many and such a wide variety), and finally the guy working there.

Bright, happy, and basically embodying the sun without the oppressive UV rays, he introduced himself as Sora when he welcomed me into his little parlour. So he owned and ran the place, probably made all the ice cream too. Ambitious, for someone who didn't look older than me.

"So, what can I get for you?"

I smirked, taking a seat at one of the stools lining the front counter. This place must've been an old bar or fast food joint if it still had these. "Winter, though I don't think that's physically possible, so a double scoop of…" I paused, staring at the printed writing above his head a moment longer. "Tiger Tail. In a waffle cone. Dipped in chocolate."

Sora laughed lightly at the increasing pickiness of my order, but he set to it without complaint. He had a nice laugh; went well with his smile.

"Not one for summer?" He asked easily, like making small talk with strangers was an everyday thing for him.

I shrugged in response, leaning against the counter as I relaxed. "Not really. It's weird, 'cause I live on an island, but I really can't stand the heat."

The small pout I was shot surprised me a bit, but it was made up for when the brunette dropped his most recent scoop of ice cream on to the floor. The string of expletives was just as unexpected, but somehow, that combined with his initial impression and his appearance had me genuinely laughing. The stupid, sheepish smile it got me was totally worth being dragged outside that morning.

Eventually I was given my cone, but instead of leaving immediately after I had paid for it, I stayed. Didn't really wanna go back outside, and the company was pretty good. Even Sora looked happy with my decision, though the idiot was, for some reason, trying to hide it.

We talked. Mostly insignificant things, stories that could be exchanged with strangers, but some solid stuff too. Like how Sora had left veterinary school to apprentice under an ice cream maker. Or how I was currently trying to ignore family problems my mother was practically insisting I be involved in, when they were to do with relatives I'd never met or barely remembered. Or how we'd both lived on the island our whole lives.

"Yeah, I just recently moved here from the east end. Didn't know anybody here, and I kept to myself until I found a place to set up. A few of my friends were nice enough to drive out to help me," East and West on this island were only separated by a car trip of about four or five hours. "And we managed to get everything set up here in only four days. I opened just yesterday."

I whistled at that. I'd glanced the inside of this place a couple times, and it had been a total wreck; a place for nasty teens to hang out, get high, have sex, and graffiti the shit out of the walls. One of the windows had been smashed, and there had been absolutely no furniture.

"Those are some impressive friends."

Sora laughed and nodded, moving to greet a couple more people as they entered, looking for a treat to try to banish the overriding heat from their bodies most likely. I stayed where I was, chewing slowly on the cone. The pair left as soon as they had paid.

We continued to chat until I'd finished and got up to leave. He wished me a good day; I did the same and left without looking back.

Sora's face when I showed up the next day was priceless. Then came the smile that I'd been thinking about, and I had a feeling as I sat down that the remainder of my summer was gonna suck much less than I thought it would. Heat could be very bearable, sitting in an ice cream shop.

-_Sable_


	2. AkuRoku: The Best Type of Lost

"AXEL!"

"Over here."

The redhead in question was busy poking at a piece of corn, wondering if the people who made the giant maze from the staple harvested all of it and then sold the crop once the season was over. It would be a waste if they didn't, but then, was maze-corn different from real-corn?

Roxas rounded a nearby corner to catch his boyfriend slicing off a corn kernel with his fingernails.

"You're not supposed to eat that." He huffed, irritation rising the longer he spent out in the blazing hot sun, lost in a giant corn maze (this year in the shape of a scarecrow with several words which were EVIL) with Axel. Should've been a fun time. Should've been a nice day to spend with his redhead. Until they started wandering in circles. For the past _hour_. And they'd already been in the stupid maze for four hours before that!

The redhead frowned and flicked the piece of food away. "I wasn't gonna." Which was an out-and-out lie; both he and the blonde knew that. Roxas just shook his head and walked past Axel, intending to finally find a way out. The other followed at a leisurely pace, enjoying the experience even if they were lost. Or at least, he was having fun a right bit more than his partner.

After a couple of minutes, the pair hit a fork, which both led to intersections with at least six different paths leading off from them. Roxas, deciding to do the smart thing, told Axel to stand still and systematically went down each and every path.

Unfortunately, no matter how long and winding and promising they each looked, they all led back to his lover; standing there, hands in his pockets, looking rather content if not amused, if the smirk on his face was anything to go by. Roxas scowled venomously and went back to checking their routes. Axel stood nearby, listening to the blonde mumble away until he noticed something.

"So I've already gone this way."

"Roxy-"

"And those two both connect to that other path which loops back here to that one."

"Roxy-"

"And down the other fork, the one on the left connects to that one there."

"Rox-"

"And then there's also one over there that loops back to the path we took to get here."

"Roxas."

"And then another one leads to the bridge, three of the four paths from there lead to here, and the last is where we came from."

Axel sighed. There was just no helping it. The kid was off on a tangent, trying to figure things out. He'd just have to be left to it. In the meantime…he'd take advantage of Roxas' nickname; it would guarantee his eventual attention.

"Roxie Hart."

"But then if they all loop back, where do we go?"

"And Velma Kelly."

"Did I miss a path somewhere?"

"You can like the life your living."

"No no, I swear I checked all of them."

"You can live the life you like."

"I went down each thing at _least_ three times."

"You can even marry Harry."

"Since I got so goddamned turned around…"

"But mess around with-"

"AXEL!"

Laughing was the only thing that the blonde got in response, until the taller of the two managed to calm down enough to register the look he was getting.

"What?"

Roxas kept staring for a moment longer. "How in the _hell_ do you know that song?"

Axel blinked. "Why? Do you know it?" The only response he caught was an immediate flush, that had nothing to do with weather, swarming his boyfriend's face, and some mumbled words. The redhead smirked, and got punched in the arm for it, before the question of what he had actually _wanted _finally arose.

"I was just gonna ask you if ya've gone down this one yet." The redhead offered, pointing down a nondescript path. His smirk grew as the blush intensified, even as the blonde blinked and shuffled forward, peering down the trail that he'd completely missed up till that point.

Blaming the heat in his face on the sun, now beginning its descent, and knowing it wasn't true, the shorter of the pair grumbled something and grabbed Axel's hand, tugging him down the new dirt path, his partner following without complaint, just a grin on his face.

They made it out within twenty minutes.

_Lyrics from the soundtrack of the movie Chicago_

_Corn Mazes do exist, and they are very, very fun ;)_

-_Sable_


	3. SoRiku: Hittin' the ol' Dusty Trail

"It'll be fun, I promise!"

That was what Axel had said. Those had been his _exact_ words. The redhead had insisted that yes, he really would have fun, and it wouldn't just be a waste of several hours of his life.

Riku had yet to see that particular three-letter word. In fact, he was pretty sure it had tipped its hat and exited stage left about three hours ago, when he was still in the car with his soon-to-be-ex best friend.

Earlier that day (way-too-earlier that day; about 6 AM to be precise), the poor silverette had been woken by a crushing weight on top of him and a loud buzzing in his ear, which he quickly identified to be his roommate and buddy, Axel. The other had insisted he get up (because only _Axel_ could be so fucking energetic so early in the goddamned morning), so that they could spend the day hanging out together.

But not inside like always, oh no. It had to be outside. In the real world.

Riku had damn near thrown him out the window.

But alas, along with energy came the stubbornness of glitter on any type of surface, and it was only a matter of time before the young man got himself up and dressed, doing a very good impression of some kind of creature that had just woken from the dead.

They'd driven around town, ate out, went to a movie (both of them laughed more than once when either of them pointed out how much they looked like a couple. Heaven forbid, because the world would've descended into World War III and then imploded in on itself), and then, when Axel _knew_ he had used up just about all of his friend's tolerance (because the sneaky bastard always liked to do that before popping surprises), he began to drive out of town.

Riku didn't actually notice until his brain registered that he'd been staring at farmer fields for an hour. He asked, nothing was given, and he just gave up with a huff. At least there was air-conditioning; the day was a scorcher.

And now? Now where was he? Standing in a _non-_air-conditioned wooden cottage/hut/thing, sweltering as the wood acted as a natural absorber of every bit of heat the sun cared to emit. And Axel had ditched him.

'_A trail ride. He actually brought me here to go on a _trail ride._ Seriously? He knows I've never been on a horse before! But of _course_ he knows that. That's why he did it; so he could make fun of me.'_ Riku paused in his thoughts, brow furrowing. '_But then…wait…why isn't he here?'_ Going back through the past while, the silverette's heat-defective brain managed to recall his friend being escorted out by a short blonde, who called back that his own guide would be along shortly.

Shortly apparently meant two hours out here.

But indeed, two _very long _hours later, as Riku was on the verge of simply passing out on the bench against the front wall, the stupid little bell above the door jingled and a shadow slid over the silverette's face. With a groan, he opened one of his eyes, peering up at the other guy from beneath the press of the arm he'd flung across his forehead.

Brown, spikey hair under a cowboy hat (he wasn't gonna try and work out how it stayed on), blue eyes, tanned skin, stupidly happy face…Riku couldn't imagine anyone more fit for the job. The grin was irritating to him in his over-heated state, wondering just what the hell he was so happy about.

"Hi there! You must be Riku. I'm your trail guide, Sora."

He got a low groan in response. It didn't seem to deter him at all.

Instead, Sora just laughed and moved over to where Riku was laying down. "Come on. Up ya get; your friend already paid for you." The brunette said, grabbing one of his arms and using it to pull Riku up, even if he wasn't getting any help. Riku just glared for a moment, before letting out a sigh and standing. With Sora only stationed far enough away to allow him room to get up, it was easy to see that he was definitely taller than this guy. Sora seemed to notice it too, and stuck a tongue out at the smirk he was given.

Riku sighed as they left the small cottage; it was so much cooler outside in comparison, even if the day itself was still very warm. But when he saw the two horses standing close by, saddled and ready to go, what little energy he'd gotten back left. Stupid Axel, dragging him all the way out there…

Without a word, he moved towards the one Sora was obviously holding still for him, not thinking much about what he was doing until the horse shied away from him and the brunette giggled quietly. Riku ignored him and tried again, with the same result.

"Um, Riku? You can't mount a horse from that side."

'_Yeah, bet I could mount your ass from that –WOAH.'_

Clearing his throat, from both embarrassment and the aftershock of…what had just happened in his head, the young man made to move to the other side, but was stopped by another 'Um' from Sora.

"You uh…you really shouldn't go around the back of a horse…not unless you put your hand on him. Otherwise, he might freak out and kick you."

Riku let his head slump down between his shoulders, so done with the day by this point. At least Sora was being patient with him, even if he couldn't guarantee the same if he opened his mouth.

So, after both corrections and a slight bit of a struggle to get _into_ the saddle and _stay there_, Riku felt thoroughly heated, only half of it from the sun, and very ready to go home. Sora had passed him the reins (read rope) of the horse and slid easily on to his own, before moving back over to where his ward was.

"Alright. Let's go!"

Riding a horse was….an experience.

Riku wobbled more than once, and the horse itself made him nervous. Being an animal, it did in fact have a mind of its own, and so tended to do things on a whim that startled its rider. The silverette had almost (almost) freaked out when the stupid thing decided it wanted a specific bush, identical to shoe closer by, a short ways off the path.

Sora's laughter made him blush.

"First time on a horse?"

Riku snorted as he haltingly guided Satan (aptly named) back on to the marked trail. "Gee, how did you know."

"My powers of observation serve me well."

The pair chatted amiably as they went, sharing stories and jokes, and little things about themselves. Shared laughter, and even good-natured arguments, made it seem like they had known each other a lot longer than was true.

But the ride came to an end soon enough, and Riku slid rather clumsily off the back of his steed, glad to be on solid ground again…though his legs ached.

"Oh smooth."

Jade eyes narrowed and glared playfully at Sora. "Let's put you on the back of my motorcycle for three hours and see how well _you_ do." He shot back. The brunette's grin only widened.

"I look forward to it."

-_Sable_


End file.
